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Innovative Irrigation techniques to help overcome Water Shortage

03-Jun-2014

RAWALPINDI: Speakers at a workshop on Monday stressed for adopting innovative techniques of irrigation to overcome the water shortage and sustainable agriculture growth for food security across the globe including Pakistan.

Addressing inaugural session of five-day international workshop on 'Irrigation water for enhancing productivity in achieving food safety resource management in Pakistan'. Arif Ibrahim Additional Secretary Ministry of Industries and Productions said Pakistan's agriculture sector contributed between 21-25 percent of Pakistan's Gross National Products and employed about half of the labour force. Pakistan is blessed with fertile lands, rivers, suitable climate and rich soil, however due to mismanagement and inadequate drainage and irrigation systems, water logging and salinity, the agricultural production is below to its potential. Since agriculture is a main user of water therefore sustainability of agriculture depends on timely and adequately availability of water. Pakistan's agriculture is dependent on irrigation supplies over 90 percent of the agricultural production. Recognising this event as a very important event he appreciated the efforts of National Productivity Organisation (NPO) Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) in regards reviewing current agricultural policies within different regions of Pakistan.

Prof Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad Vice Chancellor Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) said water was an essential element for agriculture, which had a great potential to boost country's economic growth and productivity.

Country is very much concerned about the water security and we have to join hands in order to combat the challenge. If we improve our water efficiency, we can double the areas for agriculture production, he added. He stressed upon the need to educate the farming community about modern methods of farming at grass-roots level. He informed the audiences about the different practices on the University to save and store water by adopting different techniques. He emphasised for a region where whole population was dependent on rainwater should get benefits from rainwater harvesting and it was also an important technique to save our water resources. Former CEO-NPO Dr Sher Muhammad said managing water for food security needed the adoption of agricultural best practices. Integrated land and water management practices such as organic farming and agronomical activities can be helpful to enhance land and water use productivity on a sustainable basis. Water is not only required for agricultural but also essential for hydropower production, which is presently highly needed for the development of energy sector in Pakistan.